The Body of Heart and Soul
by Paisley May
Summary: AU. "Sasuke-chan, sometime this century you're going to have to tell me all about yourself. Things deeper and more interesting than your first name, no offense."


_I don't own Naruto. The quote is by Jewel. _

[the] **body** [of] _heart_ [and] soul.  
Paisley May.

part one: [the] body

.:prologue:.

[the] beginning of the end

_(What we call human nature in actuality is human habit.)_

* * *

There was only one star in the sky that night. He could see it from his window as he packed his bags. He didn't need much – just the bare necessities. In one bag, there was a week's worth of clothes, neatly folded. His precious photo album was wrapped up in a shirt that rested atop the folded pile. He could feel the stolen money concealed in the back pocket of his jeans.

The house was quiet and empty as he shuffled into the kitchen. He found his way by the glow of the streetlights through the windows. The clock read 4:07 AM. Five in the morning was when he would leave, when the sun was dangerously close to rising. It would be best if he arrived before sunrise.

His calloused fingers ran across the assorted piles of junk in the kitchen pantry. There had never been an abundance of food in the house. _(when did the lights stop shining bright?)_

It was impossible to tell what was expired and what was still somewhat edible, so he had to investigate the old-fashioned way of straining his eyes to read the printed dates stamped on the sides of the dusty old packages. Moldy bread, expired _Jell-O_ mix and stale chips got tossed haphazardly back in the cabinet. It didn't matter to him what kinds of old shit were still laying around. He didn't live here anymore.

The second bag was filled with box after box of crackers and cookies and microwaveable popcorn and bottled water – which, for once, he was grateful for.

_"Itachi, you dumbass! There's no lead in the tap water, why the hell do we need this?"_

_"Little brother, I shouldn't have to remind you not to question me."_

_"When you waste all of our money on bullshit like this, I can say whatever the hell I want!"_

_"Not necessarily."_

_"Why don't you try and stop me, then?"_

He sighed. Desperate times called for desperate measures as always. He walked through the living room one last time, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Clothes, obviously. Extra food, taken care of. He had money. Then he remembered. He speed-walked back to his bedroom and picked up his school backpack, then proceeded to dump the contents out onto the floor. Then he went to the hallway closet and filled it up with blankets and sheets.

He tossed all three bags out onto the porch and wrote a note to his brother. It merely stated that he was leaving, rather than where he was headed. Seven blocks couldn't stand between him and the past forever, but he was determined to prolong the time. He taped the note onto the front door and picked the bags up off the porch once more.

He could do this, he assured himself. He could do this. He could leave, he was eighteen. After all, it was only the place he had lived his entire life; the place he'd vowed to leave since over a decade ago. The nervous feeling in his stomach was overwhelming (the bags seemed so light a moment ago!) and the sidewalk was the only thing guiding him as he walked in a daze. One foot in front of the other, one in front of the other...

This was supposed to be a glorious moment for him, this finally-leaving feeling of smugness and success. Leaning against the front gate, he closed his eyes and listened. He heard animals and faraway cars and the light bulb in the nearby streetlamp that was blinking on and off. He could hear the couple that lived next door fighting over something trivial and ridiculous. It was a shame, really. During the day, they seemed so happy.

He opened his eyes and nothing looked different.

The one lonely star still loomed in the sky, pointing in the direction he was to go. He didn't look back at the house again.

It was warm outside, at least seventy-five degrees. He took off his sweatshirt and tied it around his waist. He walked two blocks to the neighborhood's simple, wooden entrance sign. There was a greenish moss growing across the insincere 'Welcome!' engraved on the front. A handful of wildflowers were smashed into the ground.

_"Itachi, somebody stomped on the flowers!"_

_"The ones you left for Mother and Father? What a shame. Happy tenth birthday, by the way."_

_"Can we get some more? Pleeeeease?"_

_"Maybe some other time, little brother."_

_"...You don't give a damn about them anymore, do you?"_

_"Who did you learn that word from, little brother?"_

_"From your stupid freeloading friends, that's who! I hate them! I hate you!"_

_"..."_

Out on the horizon, the dark blue sky was glowing with oncoming sunlight. The star was still visible.

After three blocks, his shoulders began to tire. He tossed the bags down under a tree and rested. After about fifteen minutes he frowned. Yesterday, he had never been so driven. Today, he was four blocks from his dream and too lazy to keep going. Nonsense. He snatched up the bags again. They weren't even that heavy. The traffic out on the streets began to change as people started heading out to work. The town was so small that most people had to drive to the next one to find a decent job. Ten feet away, a car smacked a giant puddle. A stray cat flew past his legs and straight up the tree.

A woman standing in front of the bakery was holding a plate of freshly-made biscuits. Steam rose from the platter as she silently offered him one. He tried his hardest to decline, but his growling stomach gave him away. He gave in and took one, nodding with a silent _thank you._ The woman shook her head and offered him another.

"You look like you're going on one heck of an adventure, kid. Take two." the woman smiled, showing the lines and creases of her forehead. She looked at least sixty years old.

He took another, nodded again and adjusted his bags, all while unrolling a ten-dollar bill from his back pocket and placing it in the woman's free hand. She looked surprised, but gladly accepted the money. The shabby building didn't exactly look like much of a lucrative business. As he walked down the sidewalk, he couldn't help but wonder why she was outside giving out free food at five-thirty in the morning. She obviously hadn't been asking for money, even though she most likely needed it. It seemed that some people in the world simply did good things for no reason at all. The star was gone.

Though he'd aspired to make it there before sunrise, he knew he was basically home free at this point. He was already outside the 'usual' territory of the people he was trying to avoid. He smirked to himself in victory. Everything ahead of him was his new home now.

The sidewalk was cracked and raised up in some places, which he had to carefully walk over to avoid tripping. A few sets of initials and even some footprints were forever imbedded in the decaying concrete as well. One by one, the streetlights shut off, their purpose fulfilled for the time being.

It was then that he realized how unfamiliar he was with the area itself when he wasn't driving. As much time as he spent there on a weekly – or even daily – basis, most of the buildings and other things had gone under his radar somehow.

_"You're an idiot, little brother."_

_"You're a bigger one."_

_"You're driving too fast and you don't know where you're going. You'll never get your license this way."_

_"I know where I'm going."_

_"Did you see that restaurant back there, with the big, red sign? The one I was talking about going to before we left?"_

_"...How far back was it?"_

As he turned yet another corner, he saw what looked like the alleyway shortcut. It was lined with garbage cans overflowing with old food, furniture and other junk. Christmas lights were strung around the bricks, making the entire place look like an abandoned hallway in a trashed hotel.

A yellow piece of paper flew out from the trash and floated gracefully through the air. It tangled itself in the hanging lights and stayed there, leaving a small shadow to loom over the space. He thought nothing more of it. Instead, he took a deep breath and ventured into the smelly, grimy abyss. Even though the lights were on, his sight was limited. Especially when it came to seeing what was lurking around each corner. He told himself that he was unafraid, and trudged on through the piles of junk.

"Arf arf!" he squinted through the dim light to see a small dog pawing at a garbage can. The dog was white, as far as he could see, but it was filthy. As he walked closer to the animal, he saw that a piece of its ear was missing. He grimaced. It was obviously a stray. Its claws made irritating metallic noises against the can it was pawing at. For the very briefest of moments, he considered taking the poor mutt along with him. He decided against it. He'd always hated animals, anyway. They were annoying and drooly, not to mention they were a real hassle to take care of.

But still... the thing looked like it hadn't eaten in days.

The dog looked up, finally noticing his presence. It took a couple of intimidated steps back, and he realized that he most likely looked bigger and more threatening with the bags slung over his back and shoulders. He gingerly propped his things up against some old newspapers and let the dog sniff his hand for a while.

Deciding that it liked him, the mutt jumped up and playfully licked his face. He frowned. This was exactly why he hated animals. The dog proceeded to play with his shoelaces until they began to fray. Damn mutt. He stepped over the accumulated junk and kicked over the trashcan with the claw marks on it. The dog raced over to the torrent of garbage spilling out and began to gnaw on a cardboard box. He frowned again. How disgusting. Finally giving in to his surge of compassion, he took a package of crackers from his bag, tossed them out onto the newspapers, and went on his way. He hardly noticed the way the corners of his mouth turned upwards at the delighted barks coming from behind him.

The sun was almost completely visible by the time he emerged from the alley. He was relieved to finally breathe fresh air again. Only one block away from his destination, he couldn't help but feel the anticipation. Questions he'd never even thought of before were rushing through his head. Was he arriving too early? Was she even awake yet?

He checked his watch. It was nearly seven in the morning – even with the shortcut it had already taken him more than two hours to get across town. However, she knew of his predicament. Surely she would be awake and waiting for him by now, and that notion put him at ease.

He rounded the final corner and saw the building. It looked the same as it always did: a plain brick apartment complex. But, somehow, it looked different today. Today, it was home.

The odd, pale boy from before was sitting perched up on a bench in front of the complex with his sketchbook. His strange, plastic smile had yet to leave his face, it seemed. At a loss for a name, he cleared his throat to get the young man's attention. The boy looked up from his sketchbook; his smile still frozen in time. "Ah, so you showed up, after all," he said as he pulled an immense ring of keys from his pocket, somehow knowing exactly which one he needed and pulling it from the ring with ease.

"Room 300. It's at the top of the third floor, impossible to miss." He took the key from the boy's nearly albino-white hand and nodded respectively.

He walked through the frosted glass doors and looked around the empty lobby for the stairs.

"Excuse me, sir; can I help you with anything?" A young woman asked from behind a small counter. She had a long, blonde ponytail and blue eyes. She looked to be no older than he was. He adjusted his bags and answered, "Where are the stairs?"

Suddenly the phone rang and the girl put one finger to her lips before answering. "Hi! I missed you too... what's that? Oh, sure, and-" she rudely jabbed one thumb towards a door on his left before returning to her conversation. He opened the door to find the bottom of several flights of stairs. The receptionist's chatter slowly faded away as he trudged up to the third floor. He opened yet another door to find a long hallway with many doors, obviously leading to each of the rooms. Room 300 was right in front, just as the smiling boy had said.

He took another breath and knocked on the white wooden door. And as the door flew open not even twenty seconds later, Uchiha Sasuke wondered how he ever got to be so lucky.

"Sasuke-chan, you're here!"

**.:in perpetuum et semper:.**

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_**R.A.W.R-**__ Ha, you know what it stands for. And it never gets old. ;D Review review review! Pretty pleasepleaseplease?_

So like, that prologue probably made no sense. But it's the beginning of the end, remember? Not the end of the whole story, but- Oh, never mind.


End file.
